


If not you, then me.

by stormoftara



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Mild Blood, Spoilers, mari lives, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28709520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormoftara/pseuds/stormoftara
Summary: It felt like time slowed to a stop as he watched the events unfold before him. Mari stumbling backwards, wobbling at the top of the stairs as she tried to catch her balance, her eyes full of anger and betrayal. Reacting before his brain fully caught up with what was going on, Sunny reached out to help balance her, to stop her from falling down the stairs, grasping her wrist.A story of a reversal of fate.
Relationships: Hero/Mari (OMORI)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 337
Collections: Quality Fics





	If not you, then me.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on zero sleep. I meant it to be like 600 words yet it's probably double that, i dunno. I'm sleepy. I just wanted to write a quick one-shot! I hope you enjoy!

The stairway was shrouded in darkness, yet Sunny could still see the silhouette of his sister standing in front of him perfectly. Her long hair flying back as she gestured towards him erratically, "Sunny! Why did you break your violin? We have a concert in a few hours!"

Down the stairs, Basil stood, not saying a word. Not that Sunny expected him to, but it might be nice to have some back up. Or have someone who understood. No one understood. 

Sunny didn't want to play the violin anymore. All those hours spent practicing instead of spending time having fun with his friends felt wasted. That was time he would never get back. No one even asked him before they bought him that violin. They just did and it was so expensive and he was expected to play it, so he had to play it. Like a puppet being manipulated by five different strings, each one controlled by one of his friends. This is what they wanted so it was what Sunny wanted. 

At first he hadn't minded. He could spend more time with Mari! But the annoyance at having to play crept over him until he couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't look at his violin without being disgusted. Which is why he had thrown the violin down the stairs. It was smashed into pieces now, irreparable damage done. Never again would he be forced to play.

Of course those controlling him would be angry at his disobedience. Mari was shouting at him while Basil stood near the broken instrument like he didn't know what to do. Sunny was tired. He didn't want to explain himself, he didn't want to say that he hated the gift his friends had worked so hard to purchase for him. Sunny felt rage building up inside of himself, something burning hot and disgusting. He hated Mari! He hated everyone for treating him like this! Never asking what he wanted, always assuming and forcing and!

"Shut up!" Sunny pushed Mari away from him.

It felt like time slowed to a stop as he watched the events unfold before him. Mari stumbling backwards, wobbling at the top of the stairs as she tried to catch her balance, her eyes full of anger and betrayal. Reacting before his brain fully caught up with what was going on, Sunny reached out to help balance her, to stop her from falling down the stairs, grasping her wrist. He wasn't so graceful and found himself tipping forward instead, and as time sped up to normal speed, he was falling, Mari was falling too. 

Sunny crashed into the ground with such a harsh impact that he felt something cracking. He didn't have time to properly analyze the pain, but he could smell blood, hear screaming. With one eye hardly open, he could see a black shadow above him, no, wait, that was Mari…

Everything around him faded to black. 

* * *

The next time that awareness came to Mari felt like a shockingly long time and yet like hardly any time had passed at all. She opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling, white tiles with a bright fluorescent light. This wasn't her bedroom, to say the least. How had she ended up in this place? Her mind whirled back through her memories, trying to recall what she had been doing right before this.

The concert!

Mari sat up quickly, feeling something pulling in her arm as she did, her head going light and the room spinning along with it. None of that seemed to matter, she had to go, she couldn't miss this concert! Sunny had worked so hard to play a duet with her. She couldn't be late.

"Mari!" A sharp female voice called out next to her, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. "Calm down please, sweetie."

"Mom?" Mari looked around the room more closely now. It was clearly a hospital room, clean and mostly white except for all the plants lined up against the far wall. She was in the hospital. The plants must be "get well" gifts. Her head hurt, but she needed to concentrate. Why would she be in a hospital?

The memories started to pour in. The broken violin, the fight with Sunny, falling… "Mom! Is Sunny okay?"

"Your brother." Her mother looked away, over towards the plants. For some reason the white tulips that someone had brought caught Mari's eyes. A pain swelled in her chest that had nothing to do with her injuries from falling down the stairs. "He didn't make it."

In that one moment, with those few words spoken, Mari knew her life would never be the same again. 

* * *

Time went by so quickly. Or maybe it crawled by at the pace of a sleepy snail. It was hard to tell sometimes, since Mari never left the house anymore, she hardly left her room. After the accident, Mari had become more and more afraid of leaving the house. Of even going down the stairs from her bedroom. It all just reminded her of her brother.

It was her fault. That day she had been so angry. Sunny had destroyed his violin after they had practiced so hard together. She didn't listen to him about what happened, she just got angry and yelled. All their hard work, down the drain. She should've listened. Maybe it was an accident? Basil didn't want to talk about what happened so it was hard to say, but maybe Sunny accidently dropped the violin and was suffering just as much as she was. 

But she never gave him room to speak. No wonder he got angry and pushed her. If only she had been able to keep her balance, then he wouldn't have fallen trying to grab her. Even in the end, Sunny was selfless like that. He never wanted to hurt Mari. She was the one who hurt him, and now she couldn't even apologize.

Mari stopped playing the piano. At first she pretended it was because of her injured arm, but after she started hiding away in her room she stopped making excuses. It didn't matter what anyone else thought anymore. She stopped talking to Hero and the others too. Eventually they gave up on coming by. Mari didn't deserve their company after she stole away their friend. 

Her mother did come to her door when she delivered meals. Typically with a plea of "Please, Mari, I can't lose my daughter too." That was the limit on Mari's social interactions.

The only thing that changed in her life anymore was the date on the calendar. Time kept going by. She was supposed to be graduating high school soon. That would never happen, she hadn't been to school in months. Eventually she would have to do something, but at this point she wasn't sure what. How could she live any semblance of a normal life after what had happened?

One day, however, she heard a noise coming from down those wretched stairs. There shouldn't be anyone home. Her parents were at work. Mewo had run away. Mari was alone.

That noise wasn't like someone breaking in. It sounded more like music. Violin music. Those familiar notes she had heard over and over again as she practiced with Sunny. 

Had everything been a nightmare? Was Sunny downstairs, practicing and waiting for her to join him? She wanted to believe that. She wanted to believe that so badly that she left her room and headed towards the stairs. There was a faint pause at the top, the same sick feeling returning to her stomach that always came on when she stood up here. The music reached her ears again, which jolted her into action. She had to see Sunny again. 

Mari lightly jogged down the steps, heading towards the music room. A smile crossed her lips for the first time in forever, it was nearly painful, but she was so happy it didn't matter. She pulled open the door. 

There, in the darkness, a shadow with a violin poised on their shoulder, pulling the bow across the strings. 

"Sunny!"

Mari stepped into the room. The shadow vanished like a fine mist, spreading out through the room until there was no trace of it at all.

Right, it had been her imagination. There was no way that Sunny could be here now. Yet here she was, in the music room again. Her grand piano stood before the window. If the curtains weren't drawn, she could see the tree house they built outside. It had been nice to look out that window as her fingers danced across the keys, hoping that tomorrow would be another day of fun and laughter.

Thinking back on those happy memories, Mari sat on the bench, and a small amount of dust flew up around her. She looked at that curtain, her fingers hovering just over the keys. It had been so long since she played, she wasn't sure if she still could. Something inside wanted to hear that song again, in more than just her imagination.

So she played. Clumsily at first, but as her fingers moved the muscle memory came back, and the song reverberated around her. In that sound, she was certain she could hear a violin, softly from behind her back. As if Sunny had been waiting all this time to play a final song with her. Mari felt a tinge of tears as she put her all into the music, playing the song like she never played before. Memories danced along with the tune, the happy times, the sad times, all pressed together into sound.

The final note rang out, the noise hanging in the air for what felt like far too long, before fading out. The silence that followed felt even louder than the song. 

_Knock knock!_

An even louder sound nearly knocked her backwards off the bench. It took a moment to realize it was someone knocking at the door. Well, she would ignore it, just like she always did. It was probably some delivery guy or something. It didn't matter and Mari wanted to stay here, with her happy memories.

"Mari!"

That voice! For the second time that day, Mari rushed towards a noise, but this one was absolutely real. 

As she opened the front door, she saw that awkward smile she hadn't seen in so long, the one that made her heart melt just looking at it. "Hero!"

"Wow! I didn't expect you to open up." Hero passed a hand through his messy hair, sending it into further disarray. "I heard you playing piano so I… umm, well…"

His face was red, clearly he had no way to end his current sentence and was stalling for time. It was so wonderful to see him again. Maybe she didn't deserve to see him, but she wanted to. She really did. 

Well, thinking about it, that song she heard, maybe it hadn't been imaginary. Maybe it really was Sunny, trying to tell her to get out of her room and to move on with her life. He never was good with words, so he lured her out with music. 

Yeah, that's what she wanted to believe. 

She couldn't go on locking herself away forever anymore. Something had to change. Mari was finally ready to take that first step forward. It wasn't really a step, more like a stumble into Hero's arms, hugging him tightly. 

Maybe, just maybe, Mari could change. Maybe she could be okay. 

Maybe, just maybe, she could make some new happy memories.


End file.
